Africa

2010

New York, April 30, 2010—In light of the Ethiopian government’s longstanding
practice of jailing journalists on trumped-up criminal charges, the Committee
to Protect Journalists is concerned about the detentions last week of two
government TV journalists on allegations of misusing state property. CPJ is
monitoring the legal proceedings closely.

New York, April 29, 2010—In the Philippines, political clan members slaughter more than 30 news media workers and dump their bodies in mass graves. In Sri Lanka, a prominent editor who has criticized authorities is so sure of retaliation that he predicts his own murder. In Pakistan, a reporter who embarrassed the government is abducted and slain. In these and hundreds of other journalist killings worldwide, no one has been convicted.

In our special report, “Ten Journalist Murder Cases to Solve,” CPJ challenges authorities to solve these news media slayings and reverse the culture of impunity. Here, CPJ's Robert Mahoney explains why each of these cases can be solved if governments demonstrate political will. Listen to the mp3 on the player above, or right click here to
download. (2:59)

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New York, April 26, 2010—Three Nigerian journalists were killed in two separate incidents over the weekend. Muslim rioters killed two reporters working with a local Christian newspaper on Saturday, according to local journalists and news reports.Also on Saturday, court reporter Edo Sule Ugbagwu, at left, from the private daily The Nation was shot dead at his home by two gunmen, according to local journalists.

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Dear President Biya: Following Thursday’s death of newspaper editor Germain S. Ngota Ngota, whose health deteriorated while he was incarcerated in Kondengui Prison in the capital, Yaoundé, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on you to launch a public, thorough, and transparent inquiry into the circumstances of his death. We urge you to provide guarantees for the well-being of three other journalists held in Cameroonian prisons and address ongoing abuses—including allegations of state torture—against independent journalists who raise questions about the administration’s performance.

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New York, April 22, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by today’s death of newspaper editor Germain S. Ngota Ngota, whose health deteriorated while he was incarcerated in Cameroon. The death certificate for Ngota, editor of the private bimonthly Cameroon Express, determined that the journalist died from a lack of medical attention in Kondengui prison in the capital, Yaoundé, according to editors Hilaire Medjo of the weekly Nouvelle Vision and François Fogno Fotso of the weekly Génération Libre.

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We issued the following statement after weekly Cameroon Express Editor Bibi Ngota died of hypertension Wednesday night while in prison in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde. Ngota was arrested with two other journalists in February for reporting on an alleged corruption case implicating a presidential advisor.

New York, April 20, 2010—Deadly, unpunished violence against the press has soared in the Philippines and Somalia, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found in its newly updated Impunity Index, a list of countries where journalists are killed regularly and governments fail to solve the crimes. Impunity in journalist murders also rose significantly in Russia and Mexico, two countries with long records of entrenched, anti-press violence.

Journalist Dawit Isaac has spent 3,127 days in government custody
in his native Eritrea, according to the ticker on FreeDawit,
a Web site based in Sweden, Isaac’s adopted country, where he is a citizen. He
has never been publicly charged with a crime or been given a trial. A thorny
issue between Sweden and the Red Sea nation for many years, the imprisonment of
Isaac sparked disagreement between diplomats for the two countries again this
week.

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New York, April 13, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s decision by Rwanda’s
Media
High Council to suspend two independent weeklies just months prior to
presidential elections. At a press conference, attended only by state
broadcasters and the pro-government radio station Contact FM, the Media High
Council announced an immediate six month suspension of private vernacular
weeklies, Umuseso and Umuvugizi.